It’s one of the greatest clichés in sports, but in this case it is true: all games are like finals, and Olimpia needs to make few calculations and win as many games as possible between now and the end of one of the most closely contested regular seasons in years. With a 50 percent win rate, Olimpia currently wouldn’t be in the top half of the standings. But it is just two wins away from automatic qualification. Anything could happen in the last eight games. The game against Maccabi—the last to be played at the former Palalido arena, a retunt home to the Unipol Forum is next—takes on crucial importance in order to get closer to the postseason and keeping the Israeli team at bay. Maccabi in January seemed out of contention but has now returned to be really competitive with its 14 wins. The schedule isn’t easy—Olimpia still has five road games to play—but at this point it’s more a matter of performing and staying healthy. Olimpia dominated the previous game, but this time it will face a very different Maccabi team. Irt has won its last four games, five of its last six, and has recovered the injured Jeff Dowtin Jr. and, most importantly, Lonnie Walker IV. Olimpia has Quinn Ellis back from the league game against Cantù, so it’s essentially the same team that beat Barcelona, ​​plus Nate Sestina, who could be used if needed after a four-month absence. Maccabi is an athletic, deep, and offensive team: they score 89.6 points per game—fourth overall—and are fifth in assists and fourth in offensive rebounds; however, they allow over 91 points per game (second to last) on 59.8 percent two-point shooting (last). Olimpia’s three-point shooting will be decisive: Milan is second with 39.5 percent, but Maccabi is fourth in perimeter defense (34.7 percent allowed). Diego Flaccadori and Bryant Dunston won’t be available.

NOTES – Olimpia Milano-Maccabi Tel Aviv will be played on March, 13th, at 20:30 in Milan’s Allianz Cloud.

REFEREES – Tomislav Hordov (Croatia), Jordi Aliaga (Spain), Hugues Thepenier (France).

COACH PEPPE POETA – “We face one of the hottest team in the league as its four straight wins are witnessing. They have one of the best offense in the Euroleague because of guards enormously talented and big men dynamic and with two dimensions, capable to hit both from inside and outside. Our game will be decided by how attention we’ll be able to pay to detail because they are going to be the difference makers.”

MACCABI TEL AVIV OUTLOOK – Coached by former legendary Israeli guard Oded Katash, Maccabi is a team with a strong American influence and plenty of talent, especially among its perimeter players. It’s also a very hot team right now, as demonstrated recently, a very different team from the one that was buried by Olimpia in the Belgrade clash. Now, the starting point guard is Jimmy Clark, in his EuroLeague debut season, his second as a professional, who has gradually taken over the team. A Duquesne product, Clark averages 7.9 points and 3.8 assists per game. He’s shooting 32.4 percent from three-point range but has a streak of nine consecutive games with at least one three-pointer made: during this span, he scored 22 points against Red Star Belgrade and 21 against Partizan Belgrade. The other point man is Tamir Blatt, who plays less than twenty minutes per game but still manages to dish 4.8 assists per game, adding 7.2 points on 39.4 percent three-point shooting. Veteran John DiBartolomeo is always ready to provide defense and three-point shooting (47 of his 56 field goal attempts have been from beyond the arc). The starting guard is obviously Lonnie Walker IV, one of the most dangerous scorers in the competition (seven NBA seasons under his belt, five in San Antonio), who has just returned from a ten-game injury absence, and is averaging 15.4 points per game, has had seven games with at least twenty points, and play over 22.4 minutes per game. Another guard is Jeff Dowtin Jr., out for 11 games too, who is producing 8.4 points per game on 42.9 percent three-point shooting. At small forward, the minutes go to Canadian O’shae Brissett, who has six years of experience and 233 games played in the NBA. He currently averages 8.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, with time spent at the power forward spot when needed. The other forward is Willie Rayman (3.1 points per game on 40.5 percent three-point shooting). Brissett and Rayman’s use at power forward has become crucial following the loss of TJ Leaf to a shoulder injury. The starting power forward, however, is Jaylen Hoard, now one of the EuroLeague’s best players at the position (12.1 points on 57.7 percent two-point shooting and 6.7 rebounds on average), especially deadly from mid-range and an effective offensive rebounder. Roman Sorkin can also play at the power forward spot, but his current position is center, where he can be an effective shooter, too. Sorkin averages 13.2 points per game (17.0 over the last three outings) on 58.2 percent two-point shooting and 34.3 percent three-point shooting. He is also a dangerous offensive rebounder. The other center, Marcio Santos, a Brazilian international, averages 7.2 points per game but rarely misses, shooting 60.3 percent from two and 41.7 percent from three.

THE MACCABI CONNECTION – Josh Nebo played for Maccabi for two seasons, appearing in 78 Euroleague games. In those two years, he scored 724 points and grabbed 517 rebounds.

GAME NOTES – The next rebound will allow Shavon Shields to become the third-best rebounders in Olimpia EuroLeague history, ahead of Kyle Hines (566) and behind the top two in the list, Nicolò Melli (786) and Kaleb Tarczewski (626). Zach LeDay is 28 points away from third place “All-Time” in the EuroLeague. The list is led by Shavon Shields ahead of Bob McAdoo (1,292) and Vlado Micov (1,232). LeDay has 1,204 points. This season, he is sixth overall in three-point shooting with 46.8 percent. Josh Nebo with 75.3 percent is fourth overall in two-point shooting. Armoni Brooks is second in three-point field goals with 83, three fewer than Bayern’s Andreas Obst and three more than Sylvain Francisco and Carsen Edwards. He has a streak of 21 games with at least one three-pointer made. Marko Guduric is seven point away from reaching 3,000 for his career.